A Mayor's Mystery
by PuppyLuvr06
Summary: Lina has lived in this village her whole life; so when the new mayor asks for her help to uncover a mystery that goes deep into the town's history, naturally she accepted. But not everyone's willing to tell the truth... In a New Leaf-themed town. Updates will not be consistent; just something to write when I'm bored. Read and Review, please!
1. Chapter 1- A New Mayor

A little bag of chocolate crinkled as one of Lina's paws reached for it; the other reaching to turn up the volume of the TV. She was watching the season finale of one of her favorite murder-mystery shows. Of course right at the reveal, something was happening outside. Maybe later she'd see what it was. But not right now when it was so close to the end.

She ate the chocolate, semi-conscience about how she was leaning closer and closer to the TV. She was so close to seeing how it ended, who had ultimately planned the whole thing from the beginning. Her eyes darted from the dog, the eagle, and the bunny. And just as the dashing investigator was about to say who did it…

"Lina!" Light spilled into the room, causing the little bear to accidentally turn off the TV and spill her bag of chocolates. She turned around to see a squirrel—Peanut; and she looked like she had just ran here from the other side of town. "Come quick! The new mayor's here!"

"What?" Lina asked, quickly getting up. Well, let's hope she can catch a rerun.

Peanut nodded, gesturing for Lina to follow her. "Come on! They're gonna be arriving at the Train Station any minute now!"

And with that, the squirrel had disappeared again. Lina hoped she didn't have chocolate smeared on her face as she followed her.

For a moment Lina thought that Peanut was lying to her; that maybe the whole town decided to prank her so then she couldn't see the ending of the season finale. Then she could see—and hear—everyone gathered by the Train Station. They really were getting a new mayor.

About a year and a half ago, the old mayor Tortimer resigned; and a year before that the town was completely redone. Soon after the old mayor retired, Pelly announced a new secretary for the future mayor, then left to go tend to the Post Office. That new secretary was a dog named Isabelle; who had since been running the town until the mayor came. Most of the time Lina had forgotten they were even without a mayor. Then again, everything was more or less the same as it always has been.

Now back in the present, Lina debated whether she should've actually come. Isabelle was trying to calm the town of excited villagers, and everyone seemed to be impatiently waiting for the train to finally come. And in the corner, closer to railroads, she even saw Tom Nook and his sons—along with two of the Able sisters, Mable and Labelle, and surprisingly even Blathers—there, too; each one of them eagerly waiting for the train.

Did…did the rest of the town really need a mayor this bad? It never seemed like a problem before. Or was Lina just completely oblivious to it before? Still, it seemed as the crowd's enthusiasm was rubbing off on her.

"Who do you think it would be?" One of the other villagers asked.

"I hope that whoever they are is as fashionable as I am!" Another replied.

"Look! It's the train!" Shouted a third, followed by several "what?" and "where?"-s.

Lina tried to get a good view from her short perspective, but being the last one there meant her view was very limited. When the train reached the station, the whole town seemed to go quiet; with only a few whispers that dared to remain.

And finally, a figure stepped out. A boy; definitely taller than Lina, although that wasn't a very hard task to accomplish, and was somewhat thin. His eyes were black, and his hair was dark brown and looked a little bit like a mess. And at first, he didn't seem too fazed about the animals that awaited his arrival.

Of course, until Isabelle nodded and everyone—besides Lina, it seemed—popped a party popper. "Welcome, Mayor!" The dog greeted, smiling.

There was a bit of silence, as if the boy had to decide what to say. "Wait—what?" Was his first, notably ungraceful, reply.

"You're our new mayor," Isabelle replied, looking a little confused. "We were told of your arrival. As you can see, the whole town came out to greet you."

"Yes, but—I'm not your new mayor." The boy replied, seeming just as confused. "I just—"

"You're just nervous!" Isabelle claimed, though Lina wasn't sure if it was to keep herself from freaking out or everyone else who had been waiting. "Come with me to the Town Hall; I'll help you become a registered resident here."

"Um…okay then." The boy said, glancing over at all of the animals that had come to watch him arrive, before following Isabelle to the Town Hall.


	2. Chapter 2- Cleaning, Basically

The rest of the crowd slowly started to disperse. All the shopkeepers went back to Main Street, and the other villagers just started wandering around. Lina could barely believe that was it. But she hoped she could see the new mayor again—the way he seemed completely oblivious to Isabelle's statements made her imagination get a little out of hand. Like, was he joking? Was he set up? Is he secretly part of a list of people being blackmailed, and somehow this was the place where it would happen? The last one she doubted highly; but if mystery shows had taught her anything, it was that not everyone is as they seem at first.

She decided to head back to her house. Two of the animals she passed were talking about "the mayor planting the tree" and then something that sounded like "it symbolizes the town." She wasn't too interested in that, though. Everyone else might be going, but big ceremonies weren't really her thing.

Lina stopped in front of her house, realizing she didn't take the time to lock it when she left—the door wasn't even properly closed. She basically just shrugged it off, though; besides the thousands of Bells worth of murder-mystery novels and films she had, there wasn't anything valuable in her house anyway.

Turning on the light only reflected that. Really, there was only a bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a TV. She sighed, closed the door, and started cleaning up the chocolate she dropped earlier.

. . . . . .

Lina, admittedly, spied on the new mayor for the rest of the week. She kind of hoped he'd come to her—she wasn't very good at starting conversations, and normally even avoided them. She hoped to possibly find an answer to at least one of the many questions she had been gathering for him.

And, also admittedly, the top two on that list were "is there a reason why someone would want to blackmail you" and "do you think someone might want you dead." Hm. Maybe she was watching too many murder-mysteries around the time of this new arrival.

Still she had the feeling something was bothering him. At first she was certain it was just because he was the new mayor. Then about yesterday, she had noted how he started asking the animals "what they knew about the new mayor" before he arrived; almost to a prying sense. Honestly she was wondering how long it would take him to meet her, and if he even realized she lived here.

She let the days play out as they pleased, and was actually able to listen to an interesting conversation between the mayor and Isabelle as she passed them.

Lina didn't really know the context of what had happened before, but judging by the donation gyroid, they had just finished planning the location of…something. The two were just about to depart, when the mayor spoke.

"Isabelle?" The mayor asked, alerting Isabelle's attention as she turned to face him. "Who is the oldest resident of this town?"

Isabelle paused, as though she thought this new mayor was full of surprises. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"Who's lived here the longest. You have access to that kind of stuff, right?"

The dog nodded, before going silent for a moment to think about it. "That would be Lina; the small polar bear that lives close to the waterfall."

"Thanks."

And that was all Lina heard before she tried to look like she hadn't been listening.

So the new mayor wanted her. But why? What possible task will require her assistance? Did she get it all wrong—was he the villain, and not the victim? Was she the victim? Well, she guessed time would tell.

Though, she was a little glad she knew beforehand that he was coming over. After all, so many stray bags of mini chocolates were scattered across her room; and she didn't want to appear messy by any means, even if it might be particularly true.

Lina opened the curtains to let some light in, grabbed a stool and cleaned up the cobwebs that appeared in the places she couldn't normally reach, even dusting—something she didn't normally do, even if it was highly called for.

Maybe she was getting a little too caught up in the fact that this would be the first time the new mayor had even talked to her. Honestly she wasn't too fazed about meeting him before; maybe something in the week of him being here sparked her curiosity.

She grabbed her old record player from the bottom drawer of her dresser, setting a record in it and praying it would work. Normally she didn't have anything playing; the TV was the background noise. But, if he was anything like nearly all the other people in the town, he probably wasn't too fond of murder-mysteries.

And just on time, just about as the sun was beginning to set, there was a knock on the door; before it opened and the mayor stepped in.


	3. Chapter 3- Meeting the Mayor

"You're Lina, right?" He asked. Lina nodded, gesturing to a small table; she waited for him to sit down before she joined him. "I wanted to get to know you," the mayor informed her. Though she got the feeling that wasn't what he was really here for. "I mean—I don't think we've officially met yet. Everyone else here is telling me tips, asking for favors, and making me run around town doing their chores for them; though honestly I didn't realize you lived here until earlier today."

Lina wasn't completely sure on what to say. Really she barely remembered the last time she had had a normal conversation with somebody; saying she was normally cooped up in her house all day, besides when she went to Main Street occasionally, but either way she normally wasn't interacted with.

The mayor held out his hand. "I'm Danny."

"And you already know I'm Lina," the little bear returned as she shook his hand, smiling. "It's nice to finally meet you…Danny." Now that she knew his name, she could update that list of "weird things the mayor is doing" notes she had started when he arrived—it was a good thing they were shoved in her dresser instead of being scattered across the floor.

"So…" Danny began, his attention turning to the floor after they had shared names. "What do you know about the new mayor, before I arrived? What were you told? Do you know? None of the other animals here seem to."

Lina just shrugged. "The first thing I heard about the new mayor was right before you arrived. I'm honest when I say the thought of a new mayor didn't even occur to be until just then."

"So you know nothing? Not, like, how they knew what train I'd be on? When I'd arrive? Nothing?"

"Nothing." So was he just there to ask her the same question he'd asked everyone else in the town? "I assumed you had informed Isabelle of your arrival, thus she was able to get everyone prepared for when you came."

"All I did was hop on the train and go!" Danny stated, sighing. "I didn't even know where I was heading until I was there. Does that sound like I had talked to Isabelle beforehand?"

Lina paused. "Well…no, when you put it that way." This only made her more curious as to why he was asking these questions. She hoped she wouldn't start looking like she wanted to know. Then when an almost chilling silence filled the room, she spoke again in effort to stay away from the silence. "There wouldn't, by any chance, be a reason someone might want to set you up to fail, is there? Or, or what about someone who wants you dead?"

"What? No!" Danny replied quickly.

Maybe that wasn't the best bit to start a conversation off of. "Oops, sorry," Lina said, blushing sheepishly. "I like murder-mysteries and my imagination has a tendency to go a little overboard."

Danny seemed to think for a moment. "That makes a bit of sense, I guess. Sorry for making you miss that season finale; with my arrival and all."

Lina tilted her head. "How do you know about that?" She asked generally, grinning a bit.

He shrugged. "My older sister is really into that kind of stuff. She sends me letters all the time talking about 'how cute this character was' or 'how she never expected it to be this person.' Honestly I'm a bit surprised and semi-concerned she's able to figure out where I live…" The last part was obviously just a thought, but Lina couldn't help but question it.

"Why?" She asked, before she could really stop herself.

"Oh, uh…nothing." That was also another quick response. He looked out the window, and got out of his seat. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Lina. Maybe we can talk tomorrow? I've got to go—it's getting pretty dark."

"Bye," Lina replied; but Danny was already halfway out the door. "See you tomorrow, I guess…" She added quietly, knowing that he wouldn't hear her anyway.

She got up from her own seat, closed the curtains again, and locked the door. Instinctively she went to reach for a small bag of chocolate—only to remind herself that she had put it away a bit ago. So she grabbed it from it's hiding place, turned off the lights only to turn on a small lantern, took some notes from a drawer of her dresser, and sat down on her bed.

Lina read through them again. They were everything she had on the new mayor. So, she took the pen beside the notes and started jotting down words.

Seems to have a sister. Possibly multiple siblings, since the word "older" was used. Doesn't know how his sister knows his location—did he leave his hometown? Said his name was Danny.

Yep. She totally wasn't being a stalker or anything. Instead, she liked to see it as being the detective; possibly to see who he might truly be before anyone else did. And she had a feeling that she would, either by uncovering it herself or gaining his trust so that he told her.

With that late-night thought, Lina put everything away and turned everything off, and snuggled into her blankets to sleep. Maybe tomorrow she'll gain more of the new mayor's trust…


	4. Chapter 4- A Mysterious Letter

The sun still shone through when the morning came, despite the curtain's efforts to hide it. Lina groaned and put her pillow over her head, hoping that she might be able to get some more sleep before she was thrusted out of bed to start her day.

And to sum up her night, it was more or less a giant nightmare-conspiracy-theory that involved everyone in the town, especially Danny. It had not been a pleasant night, to say the least; and the sun came up far too early for her liking today.

A knock on her door, however, gained a moan from the bear before she got out of bed. She opened the door, nodding to the person who knocked—Pete.

"Here's your mail," he said, handing Lina a small stack of letters. Then he gave her a small nod goodbye and left again.

Lina first checked to make sure all of it was actually her's, given Pete's tendency to accidentally mix up letters, and then closed the door again after being satisfied with knowing that they were in fact addressed to her.

She walked over to the table, turning on her TV for background noise when she walked past it. Lina scattered the mail across the table, overlooking all the ones from the other villagers. One letter in particular caught her eye, though; and it had a tiny sack of something tied with it. Oddest of all was that it didn't have the sender's name. She opened it, and began reading.

'Dear Lina,

I see you've met the new mayor. How is he? Dumb? Foolish? Does the words 'prying idiot' suit him well? Honestly I'm interested in meeting him for myself one day…mind telling me about him?

Anyways, I have a feeling you'll need this sooner or later. I can't wait to meet you both face-to-face one day.

Make it quick,'

And the last part was a complicated signature she couldn't piece together; not even a single letter seemed to stand out in it. It almost just looked like swirls and slashes.

Still, curiosity hit her as she reached for the sack attached to the letter. Lina peered inside, to see quite a bit of gold coins. She shook it around in hopes of getting a rough estimate of how much it was, before seeing the "2" written on the sack.

"Two thousand Bells..?" Lina wandered aloud, knowing that it definitely wasn't just two. "Why would I receive this..?" Actually, she realized she had never actually had this much money before, however little it actually was. Almost everything she owned was either gifted to her or was left when the rest of her family moved.

The thought came to her that maybe Danny had received something similar…although she doubted it a bit, it would explain why he seemed a little desperate to find out what everyone knew about the mayor before his arrival.

She quickly checked the rest of her mail, setting aside several to remind herself to write back later, turned off the TV, and then started towards the door with the mysterious letter in her paw. Maybe she could ask Pelly where the letter came from—surely she'd be able to help, right?

Lina locked the door behind her as she left, and pretended to just be casually going to Main Street. She smiled and waved at the other villagers as she passed them, hoping that it didn't look too obvious that she was a little unnerved. After all, who wouldn't be if an unaddressed letter was sent to you, with two thousand Bells attached to it?

Checking to make sure no trains were anywhere near coming, she walked across the tracks and up the stairs to Main Street. She waved to Digby as she passed him, and walked over to the Post Office door. And her paw hovered over the door, just about to open it, when she heard people talking on the other side.

"Who told you to send this letter?" It sounded like Danny. But a lot angrier version of him, not the generally-casual one that Lina had met the day before.

"I don't know," this was a calmer voice; Pelly's. "But obviously it wasn't anyone in this town, otherwise one of the staff here would've seen the sender. It might have been sent through the inter-town mail system; in which it's almost impossible to track the original sender unless stated. Now please, mayor, calm down."

"This isn't a situation where you just tell me to 'calm down!' I was thrown into this mess, without a single clue on who these people thought I was, and still no one can just give me a simple answer as to why!"

"I'm sure there's a way to help you. You're new; adjusting to a new town's lifestyle might be proving a bit too—"

"Okay, whatever. I'll figure it out on my own." The voice as getting louder; was Danny leaving? "I swear if it wasn't for the fact I'm apparently the mayor, I would've left days ago."

Lina had a feeling she should step away from the door, so she did right before it flung open by a seemingly very angry Danny.

He didn't seem to notice she was there; although maybe he did, and just didn't want to talk to her right now. Either way, he passed her without saying a word, or even a gesture of recognition. She didn't really mind.

She just stood there for a moment, watching Danny disappear on the other side of the tracks. Had he really received a letter similar to hers? Interested, she decided to head back to her own home for right now—to give him a bit of space—before causally coming over to his house to see what was up…if she could find it.


	5. Chapter 5- Deal

Lina spent the next few hours writing up a letter to her family, and trying to figure out where Danny's house was. Honestly she hadn't gone around the whole town since he came, so she didn't know where he lived yet. Oh well, maybe she could just wander around until she found it.

She stuffed both letters—the one to her family and the one from the unknown sender—in her pockets, along with a tiny notebook and pen, and got ready to head out again. Closing the door behind her when she got out, she breathed in the summer air before looking around.

Now. Where was her destination? As far as Lina could see, there wasn't anything different. Maybe he lived on the other side of town? Normally she barely even passed the Town Hall—unless the rare occasion she visited the beach, which still didn't bring her to visit the other side of town very often.

She followed the river; trailing her paw against the bridge as she walked over it. Despite her years of living here, Lina rarely came over in this part of town anymore—the last time she remembered was when she was visiting Peanut; and the one before that was about three to four years ago with her family.

Lina put on more of a fake smile, and waved to everyone she saw. She was probably doing it very badly, and everyone could tell she was kind of getting a little creeped out as she thought of the contents of the letter.

After all; they had said her name. Lina had never met anybody that would be that mysterious. And by no means would be a trick from her brother; he didn't even know there was a new mayor yet, nor would he ever be able to pull off such an elaborate "joke." And if the letter hadn't come from anyone in this town, then how would they have known anyway? This town was surprisingly pretty cut off from anything else—the closest village was a two hour's train ride from here, and that was only a little farming village. Nothing even stood out for miles.

She was forced out of her thinking when she almost ran into a bush. Lina stared at it for a while, wondering when that had gotten there and when. Then another thing caught her attention: a house about the size of hers, but with a larger area of fence. This must be Danny's house, then.

Lina walked up to it and knocked, seeing as the lights were on. She waited for a bit; taking the time to choose her words and pull out her letter. When she didn't receive an answer, she decided to say something.

"Hello?" She called, not sure whether she should knock again. "Danny? Are you home? I want to ask you something—if you're willing to talk to me."

There was another pause, before the door opened. "I swear if you where literally anyone else right now…" Danny sighed, gesturing for her to come in. "Best-worst timing, Lina."

Lina stepped into his home, and was actually immediately awed by it. He'd only been here a week, and it was already twice as big as hers was. Several—if not all—cabin items were here, and beside the bed was a little photo of, what looked like, a younger Danny with four other people.

Beside her, Danny seemed to notice her staring and shrugged. "I had Bells saved up; decided since I'm apparently the mayor here…I'd finally use them." He led her to the couch, though he sat in the armchair instead. "As for these, they're kind of like reminders of everywhere I've been. I got each of these in a different town."

Lina sat down, and looked at the letter in her paws before handing it to Danny. "I received this this morning, along with two thousand Bells."

She didn't even need to finish before the mayor snatched it out of her paws and skimmed over it. "Well, whoever it is isn't just fine with messing with me." Danny remarked, pulling a letter out of his own pockets. He waved it around a bit before handing it to Lina. "And it's both a good and bad thing to know."

She took the letter, and read over it carefully.

'Dear "New Mayor,"

I'll admit, it was supposed to be me; before you showed up on the train first.

Best of…luck,'

And again, the unreadable signature. But it was still the same handwriting. Lina handed back to Danny.

"I don't know why it bothers me so much," he admitted. "For all I know they could just be giving me a friendly letter, but… I can't explain it."

"Have you received any more since this one?" Lina asked.

Danny shook his head. "I was kind of hoping something, though…"

Linda tilted her head, watching him turn considerably embarrassed.

"Will you help me figure out who sent these?" He blurted, then seemed to prep himself to be told no.

Of course, while she definitely wasn't going to say no, Lina was a bit shocked at the request. She could see several other people who would better help him than her. But before she could ask, he answered.

"You're the longest resident of this town—I figured you'd know more about it's history than anyone else does." He paused for a moment, laughing sheepishly. "Plus, I think I kinda ticked everyone else off…"

Linda nodded. "I'll help." It would definitely give her something to do instead of sitting around her house all day—even if she might miss the finale again. Then she thought of something, pretty sure she now had a devilish smile. "Do you have a recorder?"

"Yes?" Danny replied slowly.

"Record the season finale for me, and I'll help you."

"Deal."

They shook on it, before saying goodbye for the day.


	6. Chapter 6- Search For a Scrapbook

Lina tried to avoid as many of the other villagers as she possibly could; though she still pretended to smile as though she was just having a casual stroll through town. Luckily no one seemed to notice her, and she was able to get back to Main Street without anyone trying to start a conversation.

So she went to the Post Office, gave Pelly the letter to her family, and then left again. She stood outside for a while, wondering where to go next. Probably back to her house—maybe she could find one of her family's many scrapbooks. She wasn't even sure if she had any of them. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to look.

And that's what she did; she walked back home, turned on a lamp, and started opening one of the drawers of her dresser.

It was…actually kind of interesting how many non-clothing items she had in there. Yes, most of it was films and books, but there was a few items in there that she wasn't even sure how they fit inside it. It was almost a little surprising how much clothing items she had in there. She only wore one outfit—there had to be at least ten others in here. Lina barely even knew how she got most of these random items. Maybe it was time to clean out her dresser.

Eventually she ended up turning on the TV for some background noise, and possibly to back some of the passing animals think she was actually watching something. Normally everyone left Lina alone if they thought she was watching something—she would even admit to getting fairly upset sometimes when she was interrupted. Hopefully everyone would do the same today.

Lina pushed aside all the items that were close to the top, stuffing a few of them in her pockets to give away later, in hopes of finding something that might help the mayor. When the rest of her family moved, she hadn't really specified what things she wanted to keep besides what was already hers, so she wasn't even sure if she'd have one of the scrapbooks. But she knew that each of them had dozens of photos and small blurbs about events that happened all across town in the eighteen years they all lived here. There was bound to be something interesting in it—though she wasn't sure if Danny would be willing to wait if she didn't have one of them.

In just about two hours, everything had been cleared out of the dresser. She placed aside her notes to scribble down what had happened earlier, and turned to the mess of random objects that had become her room. The scrapbook wasn't anywhere in her dresser.

She thought for a moment, trying to remember if one had stayed with her and which one it was. There were four "main" ones—for each member of the family, which all had the same photos and text for them—with a few more random scrapbooks that was more or less full of pictures of her and her brother as kids. Lina nearly forgot that she, presumably, had one of the main scrapbooks; though she was sure she lost it years ago. Or at least forgot where she put it.

Basically giving up, she sorted through the other items. Maybe she missed something? Nope. Nothing but items that she could definitely live without. She glanced over at the TV, sighing as she watched the detective point to a falling apart and messy bed.

Wait. Under the bed! It was worth a shot, at least.

Lina turned around and moved a blanket out of the way. And there it was—a scrapbook, fully decorated in New Year's, Toy Day, and Festival stickers. She sighed thankfully, glad that she was able to find it, and set it on her bed.

And then after quickly putting everything back in her dresser, she hopped on her bed and started brushing off the dust on the scrapbook. It hadn't been touched in, at least, three years; since her family left the town. Opening it and flipping to the very last page, she saw the last photo she had of them all together. She smiled. Then she set it up on her dresser and took the notes from it, and began answering her own questions with what she'd learned of the mayor.

. . .

She'd probably spent a few hours looking at the scrapbook after she finished up the notes. The only thing that kept some sort of time was the TV—with roughly four episodes passing before realizing the sun was down, and her growing sleepiness.

So Lina set the scrapbook aside, turned off the lamp and the TV, and snuggled in her blankets. The thought of what she'd do tomorrow stayed with her as she drifted off to sleep. Danny had never told her when or where they'd meet up again, so she only assumed he'd just come to her. And with the idea of what they might do, she fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7- Meeting at the Plaza

Birds chirped outside. Light began to shine through the curtains. And Lina's blankets had apparently been kicked off the bed. Time to start the day.

She got up to make her bed before going to check on the mail. Then seeing as nothing was there, she went back inside to officially start off the morning.

Now. Does she just wait for Danny? Are they meeting up somewhere? Is she supposed to find him? She assumed he'd want to see what she found; however useful the old scrapbook might be. Though she wasn't sure what his plans were—if he had any at all. Lina set the scrapbook in an easier to remember location, should she need to just grab it and go.

Eventually there was a knock at the door. She didn't even have time to reply before the other person spoke.

"Meet me at the Plaza." It was Danny, which wasn't much of a surprise.

Lina quickly got up, grabbed the scrapbook, and went out the door. She expected the mayor to be in sight, but she couldn't see him. She saw everyone else, though; every villager had to be outside, though she wasn't sure why. Most had fishing rods with them, and many were near the river. What day was today, again? She hadn't looked at a calendar since she flipped over a page at the beginning of the month. And she didn't look at the board near the Train Station very often, either. Well, she'll find out what it was eventually.

She made her way through town, going completely unnoticed with everyone busy fishing.

Wait. Today was the Fishing Tourney, wasn't it? Seeing Chip at the Town Plaza confirmed it; and she proved to herself that she couldn't keep track of all the events in town.

"Over here," Danny called, gaining her attention. He was sitting by the tree, and motioned her over once he saw her.

Lina nodded, sitting beside him. She looked down at the scrapbook in her paws, and gave it to him. "I found this last night," she said. "There's pictures of the whole town in there, along with bits about them too—I thought you might like to see it." She paused for a moment. "As long as it's brought back."

"Promise," Danny agreed. He gently took it from her, and set it beside him. Then pulled out something of his own. "This is the recording of that season finale for you."

She didn't even think before attempting to take it from him. But he moved his hand before she could, thus preventing her from taking it.

"Not until the rest of this is sorted out." He told her, putting it back in his pocket.

Lina frowned. "Smart." She replied, sounding a bit annoyed. Then, to get her mind off of it, she gestured around them. "So why did you want to meet up here? I thought it would be one of our houses, or just generally anywhere else."

"I've got my reasons," Danny explained. "Including, but possibly not limited to, the fact that everyone's too busy trying to catch a bigger fish than the others that they aren't here. And Chip's way too busy being hungry to care what we talk about."

She had to give him credit for thinking that much out. But before they could fall into silence, Danny continued.

"So," he said. "Was there someone who wanted to be mayor, but didn't? Someone that talked about it? Old residents that moved away? Anything?"

Lina paused for a moment, admittedly needing to figure out what he completely said before she could think of an answer. "Not that I know of," she told him. "Besides the old mayor; Tortimer."

"Tortimer," Danny repeated. "As in that old turtle that's at the island? Kind of dumb, pretty stupid, and has a picture at Town Hall?"

That was…one way to describe him. She was sure she looked surprised, though—she'd never heard someone sound even slightly disrespectful for their elders before now. It was odd. And almost concerning, to a point. "Uh-huh." She confirmed.

"Finally!" The mayor smiled, but was a bit too mischievous to make Lina feel comfortable. "Someone we know! Come on!" He grabbed her scrapbook in one hand, and took hers in the other. Then he started heading towards the beach; taking her with her.

"Oh—okay!" Lina said, a bit shocked as she tried to catch up.

Danny led her to the beach, all the way down to the pier. There was a boat there—on it was a turtle. The mayor stopped in front of him, waving towards Lina.

"How much for two people?" He asked.


	8. Chapter 8- Trip to the Island

(Apologizing now for the bad pirate-speaking)

The turtle's eyes lit up when he saw Lina. "I ain't seen ye since me bus drivin' days!"

Lina smiled, recognizing him now. "Nice to see you too, Kapp'n!"

"Why am I surprised…" Danny muttered, not sounding very amused. "Just answer my question." Lina looked at him, knowing he knew what she wanted him to say. He sighed before reluctantly adding "please."

"Two thousand Bells," Kapp'n said.

Danny cursed, turning to Lina. "I'll admit I only brought one thousand," he told her. "Apparently this town charges more for an extra person."

She thought for a moment; she hadn't brought anything—or maybe she did. Lina dug through her pockets before pulling out the Bells that had been attached to the letter she got yesterday. "These are the Bells I told you about earlier." She informed him, before handing them over to Kapp'n.

"But does that mean..?" Danny wondered aloud.

Kapp'n gestured the two of them on the boat, and Lina got on first before Danny went to sit beside her. "Would ye like a bit o'—"

"Save your 'mood music' for someone who cares," Danny shot back.

The turtle looked a little hurt, but nodded. The boat started moving, and began bringing them further from shore and further from the town.

There was something about leaving that didn't settle very well with Lina. She'd never left town before—even if just for a while, or some place close to it. The thought of going someplace so unfamiliar, although it would be with someone she knew, just never seemed right to her. It was probably the only reason she hadn't left with the rest of her family.

"You know," Danny said, taking her out of her thoughts. "I've never sat up front before." Looking over at him, she could tell he was reliving something. And something that made him smile, at that. "I could never get on first when the three of us went."

"The…the three of..?" Lina repeated, a little confused.

Danny nodded; but she couldn't help but notice how he didn't look at her when he answered. "About three months before I left, me and my siblings went every week." He paused, his smile fading. "Our final time together was supposed to be on my birthday, but… Suffice to say everything was packed and I wasn't looking back."

Lina didn't know what to say. Did he…really just leave them? Is that why he doesn't know how his sister knows where he is—because he just left? She felt like she needed to say something, but…out of them all, the fact that she couldn't imagine anyone doing such a thing to their family. "How..?"

"I know, you can't think of why anyone would do that." Danny answered, sighing. "Just…let's say it was a better choice than saying goodbye the hard way. In the end, there wasn't anything left there worthwhile anymore. I'm glad I left—even if I'm stuck as a mayor now." He looked over at her, and smiled. "After all, if I hadn't left, I never would've met you."

Now Lina really didn't know what to say. All she did was blush, and hoped she didn't look too surprised. She looked away quickly, trying not to contemplate his words' meaning. Part of her wished she could shrink—the other part felt like she already had.

"Yar, we be landin' soon." Kapp'n informed them, and not a moment later landing on the pier on the other side.

Danny got off first, and thankfully didn't seem to wait for Lina. If it weren't for the fact she'd very much like to make sure he didn't say anything harsh to the old mayor, she would've probably told him she'd wait here for him. But, given how he talked about Tortimer earlier…she felt it might be best to make sure either didn't take anything too personally…

When she got off, she went inside the hut to see that any sign of the kinder Danny was gone. She was starting to wonder if he was purposely like that to everyone but her. Or if she was the only one he felt, for lack of better word, comfortable around.

"Take us to Tortimer." He told the turtle on the other side of the counter.

She didn't look very certain, and Lina saw her gaze shifting to the little bear.

"Please," Lina added. "Just do as he asks…trust me he can probably get a lot madder if you don't."

Lina was surprised that worked. Neither Danny nor the turtle questioned her, thankfully. The turtle nodded, and a speaker blared about their destination. She nodded for them to take a seat, and both of them did.

Time to meet Tortimer… Lina could only hope Danny won't get too prying this time…


	9. Chapter 9- A Step Closer

They were dropped off at a beautiful little island. There was a few trees; several bushes. Butterflies fluttered around them, and flowers seemed to be everywhere. Lina liked it. Too bad she probably wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

Tortimer stood in front of them, apparently not noticing Danny's expression. Hm. She had a feeling she was going to be apologizing a lot before this conversation ended.

"Hey there, whippersnappers!" Tortimer said. "Thanks for joining us on the—"

"We're not here for your stupid tour," Danny interrupted. "Just answer my questions and we can go our separate ways."

Only now did the old mayor notice who he was standing in front of. And of course he payed attention to Lina first. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lina spoke up before he could.

"Please do as Danny asks," she told him gently.

Thankfully Tortimer seemed to understand and turn to the new mayor—with an expression that either meant he was going to patronize him on dragging her with him, or listen willingly. "So you're—"

"It has literally only been a week." Danny pointed out. "You already know who I am, unless you're exceptionally dumber than I thought."

Tortimer frowned. "They aren't telling you youngsters to treat the former mayor with respect, eh?"

"Well, this 'youngster' is really ticked off right now and quite honestly doesn't give a flip." Danny remarked truthfully. He sighed, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Tortimer. "Look. Do you recognize this signature?"

"I do," the old mayor said in a pleased tone. Then he looked confused. "Isn't it yours?"

"No." Danny answered simply. "And saying it isn't mine, you wouldn't happen to know who else it might belong to?"

Lina perked up. "Or if you've seen the person who write like this?" She added, figuring it was worth a shot.

Tortimer shook his head. "If I had, I certainly don't remember it." He paused, quietly adding to himself, "Then again I am getting old…" A moment later his attention was back to them. "A young man came and delivered the letter. At least that's what Isabelle told me. I don't meddle with the affairs of the town anymore since I'm retired."

"Did she say what he looked like, though?" Lina asked gently, before Danny could say anything harsher.

"She made it sound like it was you," Tortimer replied, nodding to Danny. "Kind of. We just assumed it was you." He chuckled. "Certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing we've seen here!"

Danny cursed, earning the two of them an odd look from Tortimer. Lina tried to ignore the hint of disappoint she swore he had in his eyes.

"Lina, can I leave now?" Danny turned to Lina. "There's something I need to do alone, but if you'd rather—"

"I'll be fine," Lina assured him. "See you back at town."

He gave her a grateful nod before running off.

…

Lina left the islands after a semi-awkward conversation with Tortimer. She didn't see Danny when she went back to town, but still the other villagers were bustling around the rivers. Occasionally they shouted to each other about the big fish they just caught, and a few greeted her—other than that everyone seemed too caught up in their own to notice anything else.

And once she got back home, she put in one of her murder-mystery films. She found herself studying the main protagonist and the detective's actions, and noting down everything every suspicious character did. Lina knew who did it in the end; but still she watched it intently. Even if her mind started to wander from that eventually.

She ate, turned off the TV, and tried her best to go to sleep. It was kind of weird how much she worried about something that really had nothing to do with her…


	10. Chapter 10

(No chapter title because I couldn't think of one...)

Lina took a deep breath before knocking on Danny's door. She heard a "Come in!" and entered, closing the door behind her.

"Lina, great timing," Danny told her without barely looking up. He was sitting at the cabin table, looking like he was writing something. "Can you hand me that letter beside you?"

She nodded, grabbing the only letter she saw and handing it to him. Judging from the obvious "From: Yo Sister" scribbled on the envelope, his sister had found him again. When she came over to him, Danny snatched it from her paws and copied over the return address.

"Are you sending a letter to your family?" Lina asked, not being able to stop herself from grinning.

"Stop thinking whatever you're thinking." Danny replied almost immediately. "This is not a friendly hey-I-messed-up-please-forgive-me-for-having-free-will letter. It's kind of the opposite, really." He got up, and handed her the letter he'd just finished writing. "Can you give that to Pelly for me? Isabelle wants me to plant stuff around town, and I need to tell Porter if not to let anyone who even remotely looks like my mom inside the train station."

"It kind of sound like you're overreacting…" She pointed out gently.

"Well they know I'm mayor here and I could hear Cailyn laughing at me." He informed her a bit hurriedly, walking over to the door. "And my mom would hug me to death if she came. Trust me this is one of the more rational family-related things I've done."

"Why send them a letter, then? If you're blocking off all other ways of interacting with them?" Maybe it wasn't Lina's place to be questioning this. After all she had a wonderful family, even if they were far apart now. And it's not like they became that way because of something bad; she just couldn't imagine leaving her home for some place unfamiliar.

Danny didn't simply answer her question, anyway. Or really answer her question at all. "I don't suppose you've seen someone who looks like me but, like, five years older?" While his expression was unreadable, his eyes strayed to that picture. The one of him and—what Lina assumed was—his family.

"No, I can't say I have…" Lina replied. She wished she could say she had. But really, she'd been cooped up in her house most of the time in the past year. Much longer had it been since she'd snooped around the town for an unknown person.

He gave a little shrug, and opened the door. "Ladies first," Danny told her. She frowned once she realized he was faking his grin. "Remember what you're doing?"

She nodded. "Take this to Pelly, then help you out in town."

"I was thinking 'then return to your life before you came over' myself, but—"

"You still haven't answered my question." Lina explained, beginning to walk out. "We're going to need each other's trust and that's not going to happen if we're only together when you need me. And we'll cover more ground together anyway. Also this is my home, too."

"Thanks." They both went outside, and Danny locked the door behind him. "See you later?" He didn't wait for her answer, waving goodbye before dashing out of sight.

Lina stood there for a moment; wishing for once she could understand what was going around in the mayor's head. One minute he's being nice to her, the next he's either yelling at someone else or just leaving her altogether. Maybe after they'd spent more time together he'd become a bit more predictable.

She went to the Post Office, gave Pelly a brief rundown of the situation and an apology on Danny's behalf. Luckily she wasn't questioned further, and she was able to get back to town without much notice.

It wasn't hard to find him, judging from the bustling plaza.

"…and with that, let's begin!" Isabelle finished, waving everyone off.

Not even a minute later, everyone she was talking to—which seemed like half if not most of the town—took one of the plants at the plaza and bolted off.

Isabelle noticed Lina quickly, and smiled. "Oh! You're Lina, right?" Lina nodded. "Here to volunteer?" She nodded again. "Great! Grab a shovel and a few plants and get planting!"

Her eagerness was almost a bit overwhelming. But Lina nodded once more, taking what she needed and walked off.


End file.
